Miranda Lambert says Pistol Annies bandmates 'went behind my back' to set her up with new husband: 'They plucked him for me'
Miranda Lambert says her Pistol Annies bandmates played matchmaker for her and her new husband, Brendan McLoughlin.
The country singer, 35, confirmed that she did, in fact, meet McLoughlin when she and her girl group appeared on Good Morning America on Nov. 1, 2018. He is an NYPD police officer and was working in Manhattan’s Times Square when he caught her eye — and Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley set it up.
“I met my husband doing press for the Pistol Annies record, this time last year,” Lambert told the New York Times. “Our record came out the day after Halloween, and we did Good Morning America. My husband was doing security there for the show.”
She continued, “My girlfriends, the Annies, saw him and knew I might be ready to hang out with someone. They invited him to our show behind my back. They plucked him for me.”
Lambert, fresh off a breakup with musician Evan Felker, said that her bandmates had help behind-the-scenes to pull it off.
“My security guy Tom, he was in on it too. He said to me, ‘He’s here. And he’s pretty,” she revealed.
Lambert and McLoughlin quietly started dating and were married on January 26. She announced the news the following month.
Lambert said she and the Pistol Annies, who formed in 2011, have had a lot of big milestones during their time together.
“Three husbands, two ex-husbands, three children, a stepson and 23 animals,” she ticked off the New York Times. “We’ve done a lot in nine years!”
The stepson Lambert referred to is her own. McLoughlin welcomed a child from a previous relationship three days after meeting the country star. Landon McLoughlin was born in November 2018.
Since the pair hooked up, McLoughlin has taken a leave of absence from the NYPD, where he had been working as an officer in the Midtown South Precinct. After his high-profile romance hit the press, he was reassigned to a more covert position. Lambert and McLoughlin have been splitting their time between her farm in Nashville and NYC, where McLoughlin grew up, in Staten Island, and his son lives.
McLoughlin is Lambert’s second husband. She was previously married to Blake Shelton, but they split in 2015. She went on to make headlines dating musicians Anderson East and Felker before giving marriage another try with McLoughlin.
Lambert told the NYT that she lived in a “tabloid world” during her first marriage. These days, she sees herself a little less in print but admitted there’s still interest.
“Here and there, I see myself at Kroger,” she said. “I sell magazines — I guess I’m still interesting.”
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